Over 20 stories of homeless families in Sao Paulo building

Marta dos Santos sits with five of her six children in room of the occupiped Prestes Maia building in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil on Thursday, Feb. 23. Occupied since 2002 by about 350 homeless families, the building lacks electricity, elevators and running water. The families are part of Brazil's "roofless" squatter movement that's been around for years and hasn't abated despite the nation's economic boom. Squatters say their meager incomes, often earned in Brazil's informal economy, would never allow them to afford rent, even in slums.

Building owners are in the courts arguing the residents have illegally seized others' property. Leaders of the roofless movement say it's a societal crime to let abandoned buildings stand empty when so many homeless are living on the street.